Shara
This Japanese
film comes well hyped as a masterpiece, though it took 5 years to premiere
here. I am by no means sure of the
masterpiece label and director Naomi Kawase clearly belongs to the Lucrecia
Martel class of filmmakers who like to explore what is going on beneath the
surface of people, in this case a family whose younger son disappeared some
years previously and who have not fully comes to terms with it. This is a film of impressions and experiences
and we get to feel what it must be like to be in the shoes of these
people. Some of these scenes and camera
work are very well done while other parts seem to drag as we have already got
the point. The camera as witness, often
of reactions and side glances is a well used tool here.
Overall, it is a good
film with some excellent scenes but it doesn’t quite get up to the top of the
tree for me this year
****
